Prepared Comments Made To
NORTH CANTON CITY COUNCIL
October 11, 2004
City Council’s decision at last Monday’s Council of the Whole meeting to permanently suspend the hearings regarding the possible removal of Mayor Tom Rice has shown me that although we are a community governed and protected by laws, those laws and the protections they provide us are worth little more than the paper they are printed on when individuals fail to live by those laws.
I am referring to you Tom Rice, the individual charged with violating the public’s trust and the charter of the City of North Canton as well as to the members of this City Council who have failed to uphold the charter they have sworn to protect.
Tom Rice, you have been investigated on three occasions in the last two years and the conclusion of each investigation rings a recurring theme as Frank Forchione stated: “Rice’s conduct demonstrates a conflict of interest.”
Members of this city council, I am referring to you as well. You, as elected officials are not protecting the citizens of this community from individual such as Tom Rice.
Council, you were bullied, and contrary to your comments that you did not want to continue to put the city through the ordeal of continuing the hearings, the fact is you were really protecting your own personal interests.
I am aware that three of you, Mrs. Kiesling, Mr. Sarbach and Mr. Snyder had already suffered a personal financial burden regarding subpoenas that were served on each of you a few months ago by the mayor’s attorney relating to a parody of a campaign letter circulated earlier this year. I am also aware that there was the possibility of further legal entanglements for you regarding that issue.
I believe that some people on this council think that they can reduce their personal exposure to further legal action from Tom Rice by suspending the hearings. Something of a quid pro quo you might say.
This council was intimidated with the threat of legal action for themselves and you, as a group, gave in to a bully to save yourselves. Gutless and spineless on your part. And where do you think this leaves you now as councilpersons. At the mercy of Tom Rice!
Tom Rice, you are the bully!
You have hidden behind a high-priced attorney because you cannot explain your actions regarding any of the charges made against you. Moreover, you simply refuse to be accountable.
And since you could not and would not address the charges, you balked at the process that is clearly spelled out in the city charter. All attorneys know that if you cannot argue the facts of the case, you attack the process. And that is certainly what you did.
Months of pleadings, first before the court of appeals and then the common pleas court, and you could not prevail with your arguments in the courts. These legal actions on your part resulted in increased expenses to the City of North Canton
And again, all attorneys know that if you cannot dispute the facts of the allegations and you cannot dispute the process being used to air those facts, then what is left but to disparage and discredit the witnesses to those facts. And that is exactly what you did until you brought the process to its knees.
Tom Rice, you made a mockery of this city, the city charter and the public hearings. The hearings are that, simple hearings mandated in the city charter to allow a public official to explain his actions. And you chose not to explain your actions.
Mr. Rice, I truly hope that you made a videotape of the public hearing, because those videos would make excellent training tapes for the Johnnie Cochran School of Law.
Mr. Rice, David Held was your selection for city administrator. Mr. Held had no previous experience but that was your best pick to run the City of North Canton. Maybe with a little seasoning and professional guidance, he could have grown into the job.
But Mr. Held’s testimony made it clear that you did not provide professional guidance. What you did provide was ample amounts of intimidation and fear not only to your hand-picked city administrator but to city employees as well.
Your threats were also documented in Forchione’s report released earlier this year. (quote) “This phrase ‘tell the employees that they work at the pleasure of the Mayor’ appears to be a common threat in the Rice Administration. Several Department Heads (who asked not to be named for fear of their job) note that this was raised often by Held and Rice when they provided opposing opinions to Rice’s position (unquote)”.
The newspaper coverage of the allegations against Tom Rice and of Rice’s efforts to thwart public hearings have been covered by two newspapers, the Beacon Journal with a Sunday circulation in excess of 185,000 and the Repository with a Sunday circulation slightly over 90,000.
Each newspaper has had access to the detailed allegations that I provided the Stark County Prosecutor and each paper has reported on the events leading up to the public hearings and yet the Repository Editorial Board has not expressed the slightest bit of outrage over the actions of Mayor Tom Rice. The Repository has written ten editorials and the Beacon Journal has written two editorials.
Do Summit County and the City of Akron expect a much higher level of ethical conduct from its elected officials than what is expected here in Stark County or does the Repository Editorial Board have a vested interest given their past endorsement of Tom Rice in the fall 2003 election?
In a May 18, 2004, Beacon Journal editorial titled “Public and Private,” the Beacon Journal Editorial Board begins by saying (quote) “North Canton Mayor Tom Rice should find little comfort that an investigation into his conduct of city business did not uncover any criminal activity. The investigation and report by Frank Forchione, the Canton city prosecutor, was hardly complimentary, suggesting at best that Rice has displayed a cavalier attitude toward mixing his personal affairs and public actions (unquote)”. The editorial continues on stating (quote) “More troubling, this is the second time around that Forchione has raised ethical concerns about Rice’s conduct (unquote).”
On September 26, 2004, the Beacon Journal editorial board ran their second editorial titled “Nasty in North Canton” and suggested that (quote)“…the city is not served by Rice’s continuation in office without public acknowledgement of his ethical blindness. The best course would be for Rice, for once, to put the city’s interest ahead of his own and step aside (unquote)”.
Tom Rice, you do not have the moral fiber to fill the shoes of mayor and you should indeed step aside!
If this council is going to comply with its own charter and deal with ethical violations of Tom Rice that continue to mount, seemingly at the “pleasure of this mayor,” why is it that an admonishment as recommended by The Ohio Ethics Commission over a year ago and a public reprimand as suggested by the Stark County Prosecutor earlier this year were not forthcoming?
And Mr. Snyder, I do not care to hear a recital that this council cannot reprimand the mayor. If you are so inclined, you can accomplish that in some manner. If needed, a discussion with the Stark County Prosecutor can guide you.
Finally, there was an editorial in yesterday’s Repository regarding the public hearing in North Canton and it was titled “What did we learn?”
I think what I learned from all this is that the City of North Canton has a mayor by the name of Tom Rice who has repeatedly violated the public’s trust and when discovered for the man that he is will continue to unapologetically put his interests ahead of the public whom he promised to serve.
Chuck Osborne
Resident
City of North Canton
